


The Proposal Rejection

by TactheJoker



Category: The Voice (US) RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-20
Updated: 2013-06-19
Packaged: 2017-12-15 13:23:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/850022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TactheJoker/pseuds/TactheJoker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The aftermath of Adam's 'proposal' to Blake on Oprah.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Booted feet moved fast over the floor, blue eyes spitting fire and lips set in a hard line. Blake Shelton was pissed, more than he could express, and Adam Levine was to blame.  
It’s because he asked, “Will you be my Partner in Crime? My P.I.C.?”  
Had he said, “Will you be my husband?” Straight out just asked it, Blake would have said ‘yes’  
“Blake!” The high voice of his co-host and now most-hated adversary called behind him. “Come back!”  
“Fuck off!” Blake yelled over his shoulder.  
“Blake, let me explain…”  
“Explain what?” Blake rounded on Adam. “Yer fuckin’ P.I.C?! What the fuck is that?! Why the hell couldn’t y’just say it?!”  
“Say-say what? I…”  
“You know damn-well what! Why didn’t you ask if you could marry me?”  
“…”  
“Well?”  
“I…Blake, I..I can’t.”  
Tears welled up in his gentle blue eyes. “Oh, Adam…Adam, god-damn you, you stupid son-of-a-bitch!” He ran off sobbing.  
“Blake, BLAKE! WAIT!”  
“Just stay away from me you asshole!” He ran into his trailer, slamming and locking the door.  
Adam banged on door, pleading, “Blake, please! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! Come out, please; let me talk to you; I’m sorry!”  
No answer from Blake, but Adam could hear muffled sobs coming from within the trailer. Sadly, he turned away, only to run right into Usher and Shakira.  
“I can’t believe you, Adam.” Shakira snapped at him.  
“Ditto;” said Usher. “What the hell, man?”  
“This is none of your business,” Adam growled. “So keep out of it!”  
Usher stepped closer, his dark eyes hard. “Oh it’s our business alright - Blake is our friend, an’ that was straight-up shitty what you just pulled.  
Shakira nodded with vigor, stabbing a long-manicured nail at his face. “You should be ashamed of yourself.”  
“You know how much he cares about you,” said Usher. “An’ you keep teasin’ him and stringing him along, giving him just enough to give him hope. An’ then here you go playin’ on his biggest wish and throwing it right back in his face with that ‘Partner in Crime’ bull-shit.”  
Shakira looked murderous. “You better find out the right words to say fast. He’d be right to cut your ass, and if he don’t, bet your boots I will!”  
The two singers turned angrily on their heels and left. Adam stood, stunned against the trailer, the sobs were still as audible and heart-wrenching as before; he looked up at the cracked-open window and listened to his dear friend cry, feeling tears of shame well up in his own eyes.  
With head hanging and dark visions of a lifetime knowing he’d ruined one of the best relationships in his life and the disturbing image of a small female Colombian singer slicing a straight-razor across his face, he tentatively knocked again on the trailer door.  
“Blake?”


	2. Chapter 2

From far away through his sobs he’d heard the pounding on the door, Adam’s pleas, he thought he even heard angry voices at one point, but by then he’d buried his face in a crumpled paper towel and a pillow to stifle the angry and hurt screams that ripped their way out of his throat.  
It felt like he cried for a very long time - longer than he had in a while at least. He screamed, he sobbed, he hated Adam for his cruelty and he hated himself for being so foolish.  
“You son-of-a-bitch! You son-of-a-bitch!” He thought, but after a while his silent curses became weaker, and his screams turned back into heartbroken sobs.  
Then he heard the knock and the tentative voice beyond.  
“…Blake?”  
Biting his knuckle to quiet himself, Blake listened; the knock came again as did the once-loved and now despised voice.  
“Blake?”  
Fresh tears sprang to his eyes and he hid his burning face as though he was scared to catch his own reflection and see his meltdown in the harsh light of day.  
“Leave me alone, Adam; please, leave me alone. You’ve done enough.” He thought it, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud - he wasn’t even sure he could seeing as how much his throat burned.  
The knock and voice didn’t come again; he waited and waited for it to, but it never did. He raised his head, turning his face toward the door, resting his heated cheek on the pillow.  
“He’s gone…”  
He was glad, but deep down he didn’t want to believe it.  
“Don’t stop,” His heart cried. “Knock again, please! Let me know you care, let me know you at least love me enough to not want me to hurt forever.”  
He couldn’t express what he wanted. He envisioned Adam coming in, holding him in his arms and stroking his hair, telling him over and over how sorry he was. He knew what he wanted, but he couldn’t say it.  
“Give me an explanation,” he begged. “Show me that what we had was more than just something to let off steam or to sow wild oats…let me know I’m more to you than just a casualty of war. Show me, Adam. Show me, please.”  
He waited, but the only sound was his shaking breath.  
Nothing.  
That was it then; no more. Everything they’d gone through together, everything they’d created - all the fun, the joy, the tenderness, all the love they had and shared with each other both in public and in private, gone in one fell swoop. Every dream and half-passing thought he’d entertained about the two of them together, standing side-by-side and unashamed, ready to walk through life together as husbands withered and died in the frost. He sniffed, suddenly feeling very small and so very alone.  
He wiped his eyes, blew his nose, and went to the small bed in the back, still clutching the pillow tight to himself - at any other point he would have chuckled at how silly he looked, a thirty-six year-old cowboy acting like a five year-old who’d just woken up from a nightmare and whose only protection and comfort from the big and scary world was their stuffed animal.  
He wasn’t laughing now - laughter seemed an impossible feat.  
He lay down on the tiny bed - it was far too short for his long legs, but he found comfort in this curled position with his knees tucked and arms wrapped tight around the pillow.  
The trailer was so empty and quiet, there was nothing to take his mind off of what Adam had denied him. He squeezed his eyes shut against the flow of new tears, but they came anyway. They’d come no matter what. His breath shuddered and his face grew hot again; he couldn’t silence his whimpers or his sharp, gasping inhales even though he tried hard to do so.  
He just wanted to disappear from the face of the earth forever.  
He cried quietly for a long time, and after a while exhaustion took over his quaking body; it had been one of the most painful days of his life, and now he was so very tired…  
His aching eyes closed, and, for a while at least, he disappeared from the world into blissful, healing sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

He woke to the sound of clacking and scratching at the door of the trailer; Blake pried his gummed and puffy eyes open just in time to see the door swing open and Adam stepping in, pausing to thank someone just outside.  
The door closed, and Adam's eyes fell upon Blake, still lying in the bed, still clutching his pillow. Neither knew what to say, where to start, or what to do. Adam shoved his hands into his back pockets and shuffled his feet awkwardly. It was his fuck-up, so he’d better start.  
“Had to get someone to unlock the door – I’d been sitting on your steps for almost an hour after you didn’t answer me.”  
Blake remained silent. He just looked at Adam with his blue, blue eyes, red-rimmed, half of his face hidden behind the pillow. Adam swallowed and walked over to the bed-nook; Blake watched him, making no move to hinder him, but from the hardening of his gaze, Adam was reminded that he was not welcome, and he was lucky to be without a black eye or broken jaw.  
“I’m sorry.” Adam said. Blake’s eyes softened for just a moment, but soon steeled.  
“Are you?” The Oklahoman asked. “Or are you just not wanting to loose your fuck-buddy?”  
Adam winced – okay, he earned that one. “I’m sorry that I hurt you like I did, I…”  
“Yeah, you’re always sorry.” Blake lay his head back down on the bed, averting his eyes. “You’re sorry enough to feed me a kiss every now an’ then on t.v. an’ tease the interviewers about us, but y’never go any farther than that. It’s all just a big joke to you.” His voice wasn’t harsh or loud. It was surprisingly flat, emotionless, as though during the past hour he’d accepted that what he and Adam had wasn’t as real as he hoped.  
It suddenly hit Adam like a ton of bricks what he’d done, and could feel Blake slipping away from him; if he didn’t do something right now, he’d loose the man forever.  
Without being invited to, he sat down on the bed by Blake’s booted feet, hands clasped between his knees, staring down at them. His mind was all over the place as he cast about for an answer, something to say that would bring Blake back to him and let him know just how much he really meant.  
In his tornado-struck mind a small voice whispered to him. “Honesty.”  
He thought about that for a while, and realized that if he wanted Blake as much as he knew he did then honesty was the only way he’d get him back. The tall Oklahoman had always been honest with him, now it was time to return the gesture. No matter how much it hurt.  
"I'm scared." Adam said at last, almost whispering.  
Blake looked back up. “About what?”  
“Everything. About us, about what we have. I’m scared because we could loose everything; not our careers – we’ve made our mark already, but we could loose our families, our friends. Everything.”  
"An' I'm not scared of all that too?" Blake replied.  
“I just wonder if you’ve thought it through.” Adam retorted. “Not everyone has the balls that you do.”  
“Bull-shit. You’ve got a bigger pair then I do most days.” Blake maneuvered into a seated position, tucking his legs up. “An’ since when did Adam Levine start giving a shit about what everyone else thinks?”  
He had a point, Adam wasn’t worried about everyone else; he was trying to reach the honesty that he needed to show to Blake, and that had seemed like the honest answer, but the moment it left his mouth it had felt wrong. He had tried to justify it, but it fell flat. What was the honest answer? The one he was afraid to admit even to himself. Then it hit him, and he suddenly felt nauseous, but if his absolute honesty was the one thing that would bring Blake back to him, then he’d say it.  
“You’re right,” he said. “I’ve never given a shit – you’re the only person I’ve ever worried about thinking poorly of me. I know I let you down, but I am scared…”  
"So am I!” Blake cried. “I'm terrified every time I think about it, but we'll be fine, I know we will."  
"How can you know?" The Californian shook his head, not understanding; he felt himself panic a little as they spiraled closer to the truth. "This isn't some Disney crap, Blake - this is real life. The minute we come out, we'll be ripped a new one, and if we ever brake-up or slip-up in any way the people who support us will turn and..."  
"Wait...why would we slip-up?"  
Adam put his face in his hands; he couldn't find the words, but the flood-gates were creaking open; no going back now.  
"Are you afraid of me cheating on you?" Blake's voice was tinged with disbelief.  
"No-no-no!" Adam said hurriedly. "Not you, never you - I know your loyalty; it's not you I'm worried about, it's me."  
Blake was silent in confusion; Adam continued.  
"What if I fuck up? What if I fall out of love with you? I love you so much it's insane, but so many people say 'I love you ' every day, and some, me included, mean it. But some of those same people who mean it, even with all their heart, still cheat, or they hurt the other person so much with neglect they push them away until there's nothing left."  
He looked up at Blake, his heart on his sleeve. "What if I turn out to be one of those people?"  
For a while, Blake didn't speak, trying to absorb what he had been told. He reached out and took Adam's hand, not looking away from his partner.  
“You won’t be.”  
“You don’t know that.” Adam whispered.  
"Maybe I don’t, an’ I guess you can’t be sure about me either. But I’m willin’ to risk it. An’ if it does happen…well, then we either cross that bridge when we come to it, or we jump off it."  
Adam couldn’t speak; he felt relief that his greatest fear was now out in the open, and even more wonder that his partner understood and was willing to take a chance on him. With thankfulness and love, he squeezed Blake's hand and the cowboy squeezed back. Letting go, Adam put Blake's legs in his lap and pulled off his boots, setting them on the floor and stuffing the following socks into them.  
He traced the veins on the top of Blake's feet, tugging gently on the patch of hair that grew.  
"May I jump off of that bridge with you?" Adam asked, looking back up. "Will you let me?"  
Blake smiled. "No one I'd rather take the plunge with."  
They grinned; Adam was still scared, but suddenly the world didn't seem so frightening.  
He slipped off his own shoes and socks, and pushed Blake into the bed as he crawled on top of him. Their lips met, soft, a touch of wetness, a gentle breath. Another kiss, welcoming, eager, granting permission. A third kiss giving in, letting today's painful events slide away; their panting breath as their reddened lips pulled apart drove them on.  
Blake pushed Adam's thin white shirt up past his chest and Adam, in turn, opened Blake's plaid button-up. The skin of their bellies and chests pressed together - how they longed to touch and be touched by one another.  
Blake smoothed up Adam's back, dragging his fingers over the ridge of spine; the bony Californian pet the tall Oklahomans furry breast, plucking lightly at the soft pink circle until it erected. Blake arched into his hand and moaned softly as Adam kissed his throat.  
"Let me apologize to you properly." Adam whispered.


End file.
